High mileage and sleep requirements - Page 2 - Training

Johnny J

20/11/2006 at 20:33

V-rap
70 mpw is high mileage and about the maximum you can get away with running once a day. You are going to feel knackered each time you move the training up a notch until you get used to the extra workload. These may be the times when you want to sleep more. As usual, you will need to react to the advice your body is giving you and get an early night or two. You may find that a couple of doubles each week (not whisky) are a way of managing the mileage.
A morning run won't tire you out for the rest of the day and you can finish off the day with the other half of the mileage. You can even benefit from two different types of training on one day.

Hope it works for you whatever you decide.
JJ

Velociraptor

20/11/2006 at 21:46

Ah, JJ, you know about me and morning runs, don't you? I've never been a lark, and would rather run at midnight than early in the morning.

Thanks for some very sensible advice :o)

The schedules do include doubles on recovery days some weeks, and I plan to move my long run from a Wednesday evening to a Friday afternoon (the family don't know I have a regular half-day on a Friday!) so that I can do the recovery doubles on a Saturday and not have to go out at 6am to get the first run done before work.

The way my working days are arranged, I can get the bulk of my mileage done in the afternoons and early evenings, which suits me very well physiologically and doesn't eat into sleeping time. And Kevin the Teenager knows that if she wants to stay out late she has to get home by means that don't involve 11pm calls to Mum's Taxi.

Johnny J

20/11/2006 at 23:00

Sounds like you're well on the way to getting it sorted. When does the schedule start? Any chance of dropping in to the Mature thread from time to time and giving us your findings?

How do I know what you're like in the mornings? I could be persuaded to do some research on it though :-))

You're old enough to have teenage offspring? Impossible.
JJ

Night Nurse

20/11/2006 at 23:02

Vrap could I have a link to the schedule please thanks

Chouette

21/11/2006 at 06:35

Vraps - LOL to having a secret half day off! What a brilliant idea.

I am nowhere near your mileage but even moving up from 25 to over 30mpw I find I need to catnap more. The ability to drop off for 20 minutes whenever I need to is a survival strategy I developed while working nights, and possibly one of the most useful skills I've ever learnt.

Xerxes

21/11/2006 at 07:00

I think the important thing is to make good use of what you manage and don't get despondent if you miss a run here and their owing to other commitments.

So get the odd fastish run in, and definitely the long run at w/end, and make it count. Thereafter do as much as you can fit in. I do not stick to schedules much as I know I'll probably give up if I miss a few! BUT I try and do the long runs roughly on schedule...

But then, I'm not much of a runner :-)

Sodahead

21/11/2006 at 07:01

Hi Vrap.

When training hard I am normally in bed by 10pm and up at 5:30 am.

After anything hard training wise I would eat a protein laden snack - Crunchy Nut corn flakes went down well.

Also on days when training was particulary tough I would try and get 30 mins cat nap.

Go get that time.

Xerxes

21/11/2006 at 07:03

there. not their.

Damn, have not got cat.

Fell Running

21/11/2006 at 09:15

Hi Vrap

I find that routine is critical. Actually works quite well for me, as rote is a big part of my life anyway. I tend to be very particular and habitual about my training.

Have to agree that sleep is critical. When I was BGR training I wouldn't have less than 8 hours.

Having an outdoorsy type job I tend to get quite a lot of sustained walking around in. You might benefit from the odd long walk as well.

(I'm not suggesting that having an "outdoorsy" type job means I "work" any harder than someone who works in an office - or that I'm necessarily unique in having a manual job BTW. I suspect a junior hospital doc covers more miles in a day than I do in a week)

All that goes to hell and breakfast and lambing time. 40 hours or so without sleep and hard training don't mix too well....

Boniface Earl Jones

21/11/2006 at 09:55

For the last month or so I've been logging between 70 and 91mpw (although I log them as 8 minute miles so in reality I may do quite a lot more).
I find sleep is good - If I have no evening committments, I'd happily go to bed at 9:30 and sleep through to 7:30 (more if I can get away with it), but it doesn't make much of a difference if I go to bed in the early hours and wake up at the same time.

Training is usually lunchtime and early evening, and often I'll run into work and make it 3 runs per day, so it doesn't really take much of my free time during the week - in fact it saves time over the tube.

Velociraptor

21/11/2006 at 12:02

Thanks :o) You are all wonderful!

JJ, I may be very, very old, but I am still not mature enough for the Mature thread ;o)

TN, I'm not sure whether or not the schedules are published online. I've got them in paper form, from "Advanced Marathoning" by Pfitzinger and Douglas, helpfully recommended by Sodahead and purchased by eL Bee!

Xerxes, if I can reach your standard of "not much of a runner" I will be delighted.

FR, the temptation to take long walks rather than running has been one of my downfalls in the past! But next week I'm heading for the hills and will no doubt put in a fair amount of vertical mileage at sub-running pace :o)

JEJ, I love your pic :o) What's the event?

I appreciate all the suggestions about catnapping. Unfortunately, it's not something I'm very good at - when I sleep, I sleep like an extinct reptile.

And, Sodahead, I've seen what you have as a high-protein snack after winning category prizes in marathons, and it certainly didn't look like crunchy nut cornflakes. More like half a farmyard. Fried.

Boniface Earl Jones

21/11/2006 at 13:12

Vraptor - reason #1 why not to do a steeplechase!

Velociraptor

21/11/2006 at 15:30

Looks rather fun, JEJ :o)

I have followed up the Secret Half Day with another Cunning Plan. As I headed out for my run this afternoon, I casually let slip that I get dreadful seasonal affective disorder which can only be kept under control by getting out in natural daylight for an hour or two each day.

Steven Mac

21/11/2006 at 19:29

VRap - for what it's worth, I find that I sleep less when I am training hard on 70ish mpw, it is when I slow down, after a marathon say, that I sleep the sleep of the dead! I am not young, but I am only a recent runner (last 3 years) and I don't think that I could have done what I do now in my 20s or 30s as I seemed to need much more sleep then. I run early mornings mostly after about 7 hours sleep (frequently less) and waken up without my alarm, raring to go, even in the dark and cold. I do however eat like several horses!

One thing that I think makes a big difference to what sleep is required is what type of work you do - I am a desk jockey and the most exercise I get during work hours is a walk to get tea, if you have a vaguely physical day on top of training that may make a huge difference.

Good luck.

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